Complex electronic vehicular control systems, such as those used in aviation systems, often include one or more modular line replaceable units (LRUs) that may be interchanged to provide a desired system configuration and to enable quick replacement in the event of LRU failure or malfunction. Typically, a system may include an initial factory setup having several basic LRUs, while additional LRUs may be added to the system to provide customized functionality. For example, an autopilot or a satellite radio unit may be added to an aircraft, each requiring a respective LRU to be installed.
When an LRU is added to the integrated system, such as when a new LRU is added or when an LRU fails and needs to be replaced, for example, a technician or other user typically installs specific software and configuration data for the new LRU by connecting (electrically coupling) an external device (e.g., a laptop, a USB dongle, memory card, etc.) and then storing the software and configuration data to a LRU within the integrated system. For instance, the technician or other user may insert a physical memory loader card that includes software and configuration data for the new LRU. Therefore, a technician or other user typically needs to install the new LRU using the external device (e.g., an appropriate loader card specific to the new LRU) storing software and/or configuration settings that may need to be obtained from the manufacturer (e.g., downloaded from the manufacturer's website) and/or shipped to the technician or other user's location.
Furthermore, although a new LRU may be a modular hardware unit, the interplay between various LRUs within an integrated system may cause other LRUs to be affected when a new or replacement LRU is added to an existing system. That is, although only one new LRU may be installed, this LRU may require the cooperation of several other LRUs in the system to provide the desired functionality. Therefore, several other LRUs may need to be reconfigured and/or reprogrammed to facilitate operation of new options, inputs, outputs, and/or hardware associated with the new LRU.
If an LRU needs to be replaced after several new LRUs have been installed to an existing integrated system, the external device (e.g., a loader card for the replacement LRU) may be configured to alter the configuration and/or software of other LRUs in the system other than the LRU being replaced (e.g., setting them to some default state, turning off previously-set options that were enabled, etc.). Because each LRU installation or replacement may cause changes to other LRUs in the aviation system, alternations that are not properly tracked and accounted for may cause the aviation system to operate in a manner that is not desirable. To remedy this, a logbook or other recordkeeping procedure is typically utilized by technicians to maintain a record of all changes performed to the software and configuration data for all LRUs in the system for review. A technician or other user may reference this event history to locate the content that was loaded when each LRU was added, which may require loading software and configuration data from when the original factory software and configuration data were loaded, and then loading additional software and configuration data in the order that each of the LRUs were added to the factory-certified system. This potentially requires a technician or other user to locate the appropriate software and configuration data as well to perform several loading procedures, thereby making the replacement of a single LRU an arduous, complex, and tedious process.